Tile miner death5/31/2023 When breathed in, silicon cuts the lung tissue, forming scarring which can’t absorb oxygen. One contributor is longwall mining, which, with its greater output and cutting into rock, puts more silicon into the air. The deadly condition is hitting miners at a younger age and more aggressively and is the number one killer of coal miners. “You can’t mine that much coal without putting a lot of dust into the air,” the miner said.īlack lung disease has gone up for miners all across the Appalachian coalfields of Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Kentucky. He also indicated that Consol was falsifying dust samplings that the company turned into state and federal regulators. Rock dusting is a technique used to prevent the buildup of coal dust, which is explosive. ![]() The miner reported that the company was not rock dusting as soon as it was supposed to. The unspoken threat was that workers would lose their jobs. Consol’s aim has been to produce more this year and the mine has been working at near 100 percent capacity.Īfter that production report, Consol management told miners that if they talked to the press it would only lead to safety investigators entering the mine and possibly shutting down sections. The Enlow Fork Mine produced over 10 million short tons that year. In 2018, the three mines produced a record 27.6 short tons of coal, up 5.6 percent from the previous record of 26.1 short tons in 2017. “It is all production, production, production but they are creating the conditions where something can happen.” “Everyone in the mine is very mad and concerned,” he said. The miner explained that Consol was only looking to increase production and didn’t care about maintenance of the machines or the safety of the men. (See: Miner warns of safety danger at United States’ largest underground coal mine) In February of this year, the WSWS interviewed a miner who was especially concerned about the push for production in the mine at the expense of miners’ health and safety. Long wall mining is a technique in which a massive mining machine mines coal along the entire face of the section, often 1,500 feet long, with the coal pulled off on conveyor systems while the mountain collapses behind it as the machine moves forward. Consol operates 11 long walls in the three mines and production is the company’s number one concern. The complex is several times the size of Manhattan, covers coal reserves underneath portions of Washington and Greene counties, and is the largest underground mine in the US.įifteen hundred miners and contractors work in the mine. You impacted us all each in different ways and we love you and will never forget you brother …”Įnlow Fork is one of three mines in Consol’s Pennsylvania Mining Complex, which also includes the Bailey and Harvey mines, and is commonly referred to as the Bailey mine because it was the first of the three. Tanner McFarland we will never forget the memories we made and your inability to use a tape measure. It all still doesn’t feel real I’m just waiting to wake up from this nightmare we are living. You were more than our boss you were our friend our brother. A GoFundMe page has already raised over its goal of $25,000, which included support from miners throughout the country who didn’t know him.ĭennis Letavish, who worked with McFarland, posted this remembrance on Facebook: Tanner was well liked by his co-workers and friends. ![]() Tanner and Casey began dating in 2012 and were married in 2015. ![]() McFarland is survived by his wife Casey and their two-year-old son Gavin Lee. The mines are located about 60 miles south of Pittsburgh, near the West Virginia border. Thursday while working at Consol Energy’s Enlow Fork Mine in Washington County, part of the company’s Pennsylvania Mining Complex. McFarland, age 25, of Washington, Pennsylvania was killed around 6 p.m. ![]() Tanner Lee McFarland was killed Thursday evening when part of the wall and roof in the area of the mine he was working collapsed, crushing him under tons of coal and rock.
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